3406: The No. 1 Thing That Relieves My Anxiety as a Highly Sensitive Person by Lauren Stewart of Highly Sensitive Refuge

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[00:01:00] This is Optimal Health Daily. The number one thing that relieves my anxiety as a highly sensitive person. By Lauren Stewart of HighlySensitiveRefuge.com. And I'm Dr. Neal Malik. Hey there, and welcome to another bonus Sunday episode where I like to share an article from a different podcast in our network. And today's post comes from Optimal Relationships Daily, where articles covering all types of relationships are read to you every day.

[00:01:27] So with that, let's hear this one from Greg as we optimize your life. The number one thing that relieves my anxiety as a highly sensitive person. By Lauren Stewart of HighlySensitiveRefuge.com. If you're a highly sensitive person, you might know what it's like to live with some level of anxiety. For me, my anxiety started when I was young, and I couldn't make sense of my strong emotions.

[00:01:57] Everything overwhelmed me. With noise and kids everywhere, school was basically a nightmare full of overstimulation. I could only cope when things were calm and quiet, which, let's be honest, it's never that way in school. I just wanted to go home, where I felt safe and comfortable. The strangest thing set me off. Little did I know, somewhere along the line, I developed the phobia called imidophobia, which is the fear of vomiting, with my anxiety.

[00:02:23] I remember watching the movie Matilda in School, and started to panic during that scene where they make that kid eat all the cake. I was sure they were going to show him throwing up, and I couldn't handle it. I started freaking out, and was too embarrassed to say why. So, I made up something about not liking the movie. I mean, what little kid can understand and verbalize that they have a phobia or anxiety? I just thought I was insane, and I didn't want anyone else to know.

[00:02:50] Let's explore why highly sensitive people might struggle with anxiety. Plus, I'll share the number one thing that has helped me. Why do some highly sensitive people have anxiety? Not all highly sensitive people have an anxiety disorder or phobia like me. Nevertheless, it's not uncommon for HSPs to experience some level of anxiety in day-to-day life, because we process things deeply, from sights to sounds to emotional cues.

[00:03:17] For instance, watching that kid in Matilda eat that cake, the other students didn't thoroughly internalize what he was doing, as silly as that sounds. Nor did their minds spin off visualizing all the possibilities of an overstuffed tummy. As adults, all kinds of things can make us anxious, from a deadline at work or school, to not knowing what's going to happen in a given scenario.

[00:03:41] And when you're a highly sensitive person who processes and feels experiences deeply, it's no wonder anxious thoughts arise. What relieves my anxiety? Fast forward to now, at 28 years old, and I've definitely had my share of ups and downs with anxiety. I've had many times of stress, full of anxiety and panic attacks, and times of calm and minimal anxiety.

[00:04:06] Lately, I have experienced little to no anxiety, and I believe there is one thing in particular that helps me release anxiety when it does creep back up. It isn't meditation or self-care or even mindfulness, although I know all of those things can be helpful. For me, and for many others around me, I've noticed, the key to relieving anxiety in the moment is helping others. Think about that for a second. Think about how you feel when you do something for someone out of the goodness of your heart.

[00:04:35] If you're a highly sensitive person, you're likely a caregiver who loves helping others. Whether you work in a caregiver career or simply love to take care of your significant other, family, friends, and kids, notice how you feel when you are helping out. This can be a fine line, though. You don't want to become so selfless and focused on others that you forget to take care of yourself. You absolutely have to put yourself first to thrive as a highly sensitive person and meet your own needs.

[00:05:03] If you are constantly helping others, saying yes to everything and taking care of everyone but yourself, anxiety will still creep in. But when you're taking good care of yourself and also focused on loving and caring for the people around you, anxious feelings tend to disappear. This is especially helpful in moments when you first start to notice you are feeling anxious. I've noticed when I have enough time to take care of my own needs and spend the rest of my time caring for my friends and helping others,

[00:05:33] my anxiety is super minimal and even non-existent, even in stressful times. Find your why, then reach out. The next time anxiety arises, take a moment to try to figure out why it's happening. I like to call this finding your why. Anxiety can arise from simple things like being hungry or thirsty, stressed about a deadline, or worried about a loved one. It can also strike for seemingly no reason.

[00:06:01] If you've taken care of yourself by making sure you're well-fed, hydrated, slept well, exercised, etc., go to the next step. Reach out to someone to help. Ask your significant other what you can do to help around the house or give them a surprise back rub. Work on a homemade gift for a friend. Ask someone to hang out. Text a friend who is going through a tough time. Volunteer. Get out of your head and help someone else. I guarantee you will start to feel better shortly.

[00:06:31] Not only will you get the feel-good emotions of helping others, but your brain will also be distracted from your worries. Often, this is enough to help you feel better quickly. You can also use helping others as a distraction to calm yourself down enough so you can remember to eat, take a nap, take your medication, meditate, or anything else that truly helps ease anxiety. However, remember that constantly distracting your brain from anxiety won't help in the long run.

[00:06:59] Try to frequently journal your anxiety and worries to see where it is stemming from and what you can do in your daily life to help heal it. If you suffer from frequent anxiety, you may want to talk to a mental health specialist and or seek treatment and medication. You just listened to the post titled The Number One Thing That Relieves My Anxiety As A Highly Sensitive Person

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[00:09:23] Before starting Epglyss, tell your doctor if you have a parasitic infection. Ask your doctor about Epglyss and visit epglyss.lily.com or call 1-800-LILY-RX or 1-800-545-5979. And thanks so much to Lauren for offering a really invaluable post for those who suffer from anxiety, which is many. I really love this strategy here for addressing it at least moment to moment. The tough thing about anxiety is that we feel it due to our instinct to protect ourselves from threat.

[00:09:52] So it is there to help us, but clearly we have very few legitimate threats now due to how we've all evolved. But with this protective system still in place, we have to find new threats, which again are almost never actual threats to our survival as they are to maybe our egos or plans we've made for ourselves. But if we can remember the root of anxiety and the fact that in its most basic stage, it serves to protect us from environmental threats like predators,

[00:10:21] often a shift of the environment, our bodies or our actions can trickle down to our thoughts rather than the other way around. So by Lauren grounding herself with her environment, getting out of her head and creating peace in her environment by doing the act of reaching out to help someone as opposed to trying to just think herself out of something, her body's response then dictates her mind's response. This is similar to why deep breathing has proven to be effective,

[00:10:50] even if it is a very common example. It's because it deliberately calms the body rather than just trying to silence the mind. So if you suffer from anxiety yourself, try turning to some strategies that are more physical than just trying to think calming thoughts and see where it takes you. All right, that's it for this one, friends. Thanks so much for being here as always. Thanks again to Lauren for a really great post. And I will see you back here tomorrow for another episode as always, where your optimal life awaits.